This invention relates to medical diagnostic methods and apparatus. More particularly, it relates to those methods and apparatus which include probes or electrodes which are placed against the body of the patient to be examined in order to detect temperature or resistance changes.
A number of devices are available which either detect the temperature of the body or of a particular organ of the body or detect the resistivity exhibited at points on the body surface or between two closely spaced points on the body surface, as in the galvanic skin response mechanisms common to lie detector apparatus. These devices are rather cumbersome and expensive. None of these devices combine temperature and resistivity measuring functions.
Areas of the body which exhibit increased conductivity and increased temperature include the acupuncture points of the body. Subluxations, situations of malpositioned contiguous vertebrae of the spine causing interference with the nerves and normal nervous transmission, trigger inflammation reactions of the body resulting in edema thereabout, which areas exhibit increased conductivity and increased temperature. Although the aforementioned apparatus may locate acupuncture points or areas along the spine which should be further examined for subluxations, precise location is difficult since either temperature or resistance measurements alone are relied upon.